The National Basketball Association will show zero tolerance toward any
further incidents such as the one that marred the game between the Indiana
Pacers and Detroit Pistons Friday, NBA commissioner David Stern has warned.

National Basketball
Association Commissioner David Stern announces a handful of suspensions
resulting from a brawl that erupted during a Nov. 19 game between the
Indiana Pacers and the Detroit Pistons in Detroit, during a hastily
called news conference Sunday, Nov. 21, 2004, at Madison Square Garden in
New York. The harshest penalty was against Indiana Pacers forward Ron
Artest, who was suspended for the remainder of the season.
[AP]

Stern suspended Pacers All-Star Ron
Artest for the rest of the season Sunday after he instigated a wild brawl in the
final minute of the Pacers win by jumping into the stands and attacking fans
after being hit by a cup of drink.

Artest, along with team mate Stephen Jackson, threw punches at spectators,
before the referee called the game off with fans showering players with beer,
ice and popcorn as they headed for the dressing room. Indiana won the game
97-82.

"Players cannot lose control and go into the stands," Stern told ESPN in a
televised news conference Sunday.

"They now know. The line is drawn and they won't do it again as long as they
want to be associated with our game."

Artest's suspension will total 73 games, while team mates Stephen Jackson and
Jermaine O'Neal were suspended for 30 and 25 games respectively.

Detroit's Ben Wallace was suspended for six games for his part in the brawl,
one of the ugliest in U.S. sports history. Indiana's Anthony Johnson also
received a five-game suspension and four other players received one-game bans.

"The actions of the players involved wildly exceeded the professionalism and
self-control that should fairly be expected from NBA players," Stern said in his
statement.

DECLINING EXPECTATIONS

"We must affirm that the NBA will strive to exemplify the best that can be
offered by professional sports, and not allow our sport to be debased by what
seem to be declining expectations for behavior of fans and athletes alike."

Stern also said the league will now focus on security issues at all arenas in
the NBA to ensure there will be no repeat of Friday's melee.

"To watch the out-of-control fans in the stands, to me, was disgusting,"
Stern said during the ESPN news conference. "(But) it doesn't excuse what our
players did in going into the stands."

Extra security was evident when the Pistons played at home against Charlotte
Sunday. The number of armed police in The Palace was doubled to 20 while there
was a 25 percent increase in security personnel.

When both teams returned to the court, they were escorted by police while
security staff turned their backs on the game to watch the fans in the stands
throughout.